Larry Berg envisions “next level” as MLS Commissioner | OneFootball

By Jonathan Sigal

NEW YORK – To call Larry Berg a lifelong soccer fan is, to put it mildly, underselling things.

Just ask Bennett Rosenthal, Lead Managing Owner of LAFC and Co-Chair of the MLS Succession Committee, who helped oversee the months-long process that on Monday culminated in Berg being named the next MLS Commissioner via a vote by the Board of Governors.

“I've never seen anyone digest anything – and I mean anything – more than Larry digested soccer,” Rosenthal said. “He would talk about the game that was on in Italy, the game that was on in the Bundesliga. Every day, he had watched soccer. He was doing his day job, but he was watching soccer relentlessly.”

Or hear from Don Garber, who’s been MLS Commissioner since 1999 and will transition to the role of Chairman once Berg takes over on Jan. 1, 2027.

“MLS has got such momentum and is on such a great trajectory, but now is the time to move in a new direction,” Garber said. “And what better person to take the lead than somebody who's been an owner in the league, who's run our Sporting and Competition Committee for many years, who's lived the game, who's played the game and loves the game? Larry's perfect.”

Need another perspective? Here is Jimmy Haslam, Managing Partner of the Columbus Crew and Co-Chair of the MLS Succession Committee.

“He loves soccer. He eats, breathes and sleeps soccer,” said Haslam, CEO and Chairman of Haslam Sports Group. “There's no substitute for someone who loves what they do.”

Those testimonials paint a picture of Berg, who has charted a distinguished career in private equity and served on boards of numerous companies, all while being Co-Managing Owner of LAFC and heavily involved in the league’s Sporting and Competition Committee.

They also depict a childhood passion for Berg, whose fandom stretches back to when he was eight years old and growing up in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. That’s when Berg’s father saw a poster on a telephone pole advertising a new youth league and, as practices and games added up, so did Larry’s connection to the sport. 

Fast forward to adulthood, and Berg was hooked on just about any soccer he could experience – the FIFA World Cup, early MLS games, US Men’s National Team matches, Europe’s top leagues, you name it. Just like millions of fans across North America who have witnessed MLS’s rise over the last three-plus decades, he couldn’t get enough.

“To have this as the culmination of all those chapters, to play a leadership role across the league, it's something I'm really looking forward to,” Berg said.

Berg will become MLS’s third-ever Commissioner at a pivotal time, fresh off the 2026 FIFA World Cup. MLS will launch its new competition calendar in 2027-28, aligning with global leagues, and continue to evolve its roster model, open more soccer-specific stadiums, engage in future media rights discussions, and finalize a new collective bargaining agreement.

That follows Garber’s leadership, with MLS growing from 10 to 30 clubs, attracting a new generation of world-class owners, overseeing the development of 26 soccer stadiums, and helping transform the United States and Canada into prominent soccer nations.

But Berg recognizes fans are clamoring for further evolution.

“Over the last 30 years, we've done a lot of things right,” Berg said. “The infrastructure part was A+. We have the foundation. We have the stadiums, we have the training facilities, we have the academies, we have MLS NEXT Pro.

“If we can put on top of that some forward thinking and some other things that make us more exciting and more competitive, then I think we'll be in great shape.”

The exciting part, in Berg’s view? MLS owners want to progress even further in the fast-paced, hyper-competitive global landscape of professional leagues. 

“This wouldn't be very interesting to me if a big part of the league was for status quo,” said Berg. “They're not. They want to move forward and they want change. How they do that change differs; their priorities differ. But people want to move this league forward and they want to lean in. My job is to figure out the best way to do that.”

That’s a tremendous challenge, Berg said, and he plans to start by embarking on a league-wide listening tour with owners. He’ll aim to craft what he calls “the grand bargain,” taking in diverse perspectives about how to evolve.

Above all, after helping build LAFC into a global soccer force and being at the forefront of changes on the field, Berg is ready to usher in a new era.   

“We have this great opportunity to get to that next level in MLS,” said Berg. “To be leading that charge is a lifelong dream.”

Larry Berg: MLS future is "incredibly bright"